Commonwealths Ports Authority mechanics have successfully repaired a downed runway firefighting vehicle, allowing the Francisco C. Ada\/Saipan International Airport to return to normal operations.<\/p>\n
Last Friday, CPA\u2019s Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting Crash 8 unit went down for maintenance, forcing CPA to restrict the sizes of planes that could come in to match their reduced response capacity.<\/p>\n
Equipment for repairs arrived yesterday morning and CPA mechanics had the unit fixed before 10am.<\/p>\n
CPA executive director Maryann Lizama said they received the assembly\u2014a steering gear box\u2014at 3am yesterday.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur team of mechanics and ARFF boys worked on the truck since [3:30am] until complete,\u201d she said before 10am yesterday.<\/p>\n
With the ARFF Crash 8 Unit back online, the Saipan airport is back to \u201cIndex D\u201d per Federal Aviation Administration guidelines, which means larger aircrafts like 747s, 777s, Airbus 380s, and Airbus 330s can now fly in to the airport.<\/p>\n
The reduction in CPA\u2019s safety response capacity had forced them to reduce operations to \u201cIndex C.\u201d<\/p>\n
Index C\u2014per the FAA\u2014indicates that aircraft between 129 feet and no more 159 feet in size are allowed to land.<\/p>\n
Lizama told Saipan Tribune that she was up since 1am yesterday morning, meeting with her mechanics at the airport at 2am. From there, they waited for the assembly to clear Customs and Border Protection, before CPA\u2019s ARFF mechanics started their work.<\/p>\n
Lizama thanked the mechanics, Joey and Roland, and gave a big thank you to all her firefighters for helping the mechanics get the Crash 8 unit back online.<\/p>\n
The reduction of airport operations on Friday caused about 1,600 passengers to be stranded over the weekend.<\/p>\n
One affected flight from China\u2014Dynamic Airways\u2014did not yet resume their flights yesterday, or schedule ones today but will resume normal operations soon, according to local representative Dennis Tse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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